AndI
by Grinning Cat
Summary: Liveing is hard. You have to move on from the past to keep going. That's the worst part.
1. Make A Hole With A Gun

**Disclaimer: Once, I owned Excel Saga. But I had to pawn it off to pay for the bills. I regret it everyday.**

**A/N: What I should be doing right now is working on my other fanfics, specifically Don't You Forget About Me and Call and Answer. But I don't feel like it. I'll work on it later.**

**This story takes place in the anime, after Lord Il Palazzo shoots Excel, and F-Prefecture lays in ruins. Also, people may get a bit OOC, mostly Excel, especially in the first few chapters.**

**OO**

&I

_Chapter One: Make A Hole With A Gun_

**OO**

When they saw each other again, it was awkward, and emotional, and strange. But it was altogether … nice. Yes, if they could find one word to describe the feeling of the memory of meeting once again, 'nice' would be the word.

Hyatt was picking up groceries. She was making good money at a Restaurant as head waitress. She quit her job with ACROSS; some things couldn't be forgiven, and she found she had more loyalty towards her senior then she ever had for her actual lord. While her life was better; a job, a home, food - - really, quite improved; she admitted to herself that it wasn't the same without her friend. There was emptiness. One that she felt could never be filled.

Excel, too, was picking up some food, but hers were more meager then her friends. It seemed that she had just as many problems as keeping a job in this new city with its new people as she did in F-Prefecture. Really, it wasn't surprising; long before she had joined ACROSS, in high school, where the money earned didn't go towards keeping on the lights and feeding yourself for another week, but towards a new car and nice cloths, she had the same problems. She was just bad at work, and she always shrugged it off. Something always came through for her; it was a blind faith that kept her going.

Once, that faith had been held in Lord Il Palazzo, of whom she worshiped the very ground her walked on. Faith that, no matter how hard times might be, they would get better, for one day, the plans so painstakingly made would finally fall into place, and he would be master and commander of the world, with her at his side, grateful just to be there.

Things changed. She no longer trusted so blindly. Now it was the faith in herself that kept her going, kept her working hard at new jobs and failing jobs and keeping herself alive.

Excel was finding that cheap surplus ramen could go a long way, even if it did taste horrible. Hyatt was finding the wonders of American Potato chips on the aisle ahead.

At the same time, they exchanged glances, like to shoppers just giving each other how-do-you-do's without even noticing who the other was. Then the realization hit, and Hyatt dropped her bag of chips, and Excel, in a rush of energy, ran to greet her. Hyatt fell to the floor in a pool of her own blood, a smile on her face.

"Just like old times, Ha-Chan!"

**OO**


	2. Perpandiculer

&I

_Chapter Two: Perpendicular_

**OO**

After Excel gathered her long-lost friend up, and cleaned up the blood with some paper towels in Hyatt's cart, and Hyatt managed to revive herself, the two, without taking their food, went to a cafe, to talk, and laugh, like the other old friends were.

While Hyatt sipped her heavily medicated coffee, and Excel gulped down her (free) water, an awkward silence washed over them. Neither knew where to start.

"I quit," Hyatt began, after a while. "When I heard."

"I did too," Excel said. "Not for the same reasons. Well. Maybe."

She smiled, but it was weak and sad. Hyatt smiled back, more sincerely.

"I missed you, senior."

"Yeah. I missed you too."

After that, conversation flowed out. The two were buddies; it was something that would never change, dead of alive (literally). Hyatt told Excel how she got a job and did very well despite her dieing spells, and how her new apartment was bigger and nicer and how she hadn't seen Menchi since that day the city they once lived in was laid to ruin. Excel told her how she managed to blow up the last place she worked at, and how sometimes she pretended to be homeless for spare change, and how she was currently going without electricity and working at a car wash. They talked for a while, until the café closed.

As they left, the air crisp, and cool, Hyatt grabbed Excel's arm, which, for a moment, thought she was going to die.

"No, no, I'm quite fine," Hyatt said, her normally pale cheeks rosy. "Senior, you didn't tell me about your apartment? Are you fine there?"

"You shouldn't call me that."

"Eh?"

"I'm not your senior anymore." They paused in their walk, Hyatt still clutching her friends arm.

"What should I call you then?"

"I… don't know."

"What's your real name?"

"Ha-Chan, I've long forgotten it."

**OO**


End file.
